Connect with Us

Painting her feelings

Artist Cindy Mawle’s painting, ornaments and jewelry is currently for sale at The Gallery @ Qualicum Art Supply.

— image credit: Lissa ALEXANDER PHOTO

LISSA ALEXANDER

reporter@pqbnews.com

F

rom the breathtaking scenery on the West Coast, to the amazing work of local artists, Cindy Mawle is finding herself overcome with inspiration to paint, too much in fact.

“I’m finding a lot of my problem is that I’m around all these people who do all these wonderful things,” she said. “I would see something and think, oh I can try that and add that to mine and, oh look at that…I’m like a little kid, so I had to get away from everybody and just go home and focus on my own work.”

Mawle’s work is currently hanging at the Gallery @ Qualicum Art Supply.

Mawle grew up in Sooke and has been drawing since she can remember. At age 12 she took oil painting classes from a lady on her street and in high school her art teacher praised her work and encouraged her to continue painting.

In 1987 she moved to Didsbury, Alberta where residents persuaded her to teach art classes to children in the predominantly sports-oriented town. Her lessons expanded to include teens and then adults and went on for nine years.

While in Alberta, Mawle realized just how beautiful the West Coast was and how much she missed the area.

“When I was living in Alberta I painted B.C. landscapes, and everybody in Alberta kept saying, ‘can’t you paint barns?’”

Mawle moved back to B.C. in 2004 and began experimenting with new techniques and mediums, trying her hand at abstract.

But today she focuses on what she feels as well as what she sees, she said, and is sticking with seascapes and West Coast scenes, incorporating many distant layers into her work. She said she finds inspiration all around her.

“There’s dance out there and I see it all the time. When I’m driving I see something and think, Oh I have to go home, I want to paint.”

At the gallery Mawle’s paintings, jewelry and her little wooden ornaments adorned with miniature paintings are for sale. These incorporate her shadow photographs of nature as well as little paper paintings, completed with resin and silver.

Drop by the Gallery @ Qualicum Art Supply at 101 — 206 First Ave. W to see Mawle’s work or the Salish Sea Market in Bowser.

Visit her website at www.cindymawle.com.

We encourage an open exchange of ideas on this story's topic, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. Personal attacks, inappropriate language, and off-topic comments may be removed, and comment privileges revoked, per our Terms of Use. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.